Game Night
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Oneshot that follows The Morning After - Antonio's needed some time to process Jayden's secret. Knowing he's injured and alone, Emily goes to visit and apologizes for Storm attacking him. All's forgiven and the two TRY to play cards.


Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.

Antonio stared up at the ceiling. By now he had recovered enough to be allowed out of bed, but he didn't want to leave the room.

Jayden had just dropped a bomb on him. A big bomb. Though the reveal of his big secret had very little effect on their relationship, it was still big, and it still hurt their friendship just a little bit.

Antonio could understand why Jayden had hidden this secret. It was a big deal. It was very important. The less people knew about it, the better. But it was still a lot to hear, and knowing Jayden had kept something this big and this important not just from his boyfriend, but from the entire team dedicated to helping him and protecting him against the Nighlok made Antonio a little angry. He had been open about that to Jayden and requested space for a few days. So Jayden left the room, only coming back to give Antonio meals and to go to bed.

He wanted to tell the others. A part of the reason he was still in his room was because he didn't trust himself not to say anything to the Samurai. Jayden had sworn him to secrecy, and understanding why it was so important the secret stayed a secret, Antonio would respect that.

Just so Antonio would know he wasn't completely alone hiding a big secret that wasn't his own, Jayden had informed him that outside of Ji, two other people in the house knew. Antonio didn't want to know who they were, and he didn't want them to know he knew. He didn't want to be tempted to talk to them about it and to have the secret accidentally slip out. One thing about the house was that there was no privacy. At all times, it was likely someone could overhear a conversation. Jayden had taken extra precautions to ensure no one heard as he spilled, but that couldn't be done constantly without arousing suspicion.

"Antonio? Are you awake?"

Antonio turned to his door and nodded his head, seeing Emily peeking through a small crack. He didn't want to talk to anyone just yet, but couldn't turn away company. They would know something was wrong. It was very likely they had noticed Jayden was spending less time with him.

As Emily walked into the room, Antonio could see she was carrying Storm. The poor dog was still covered in bandages and looked like she could barely walk, but there was a big smile on her face. Antonio knew she was being well looked after. Emily made an excellent nurse.

"I thought you might be lonely," Emily took a seat at the end of the bed, "And Storm wanted to apologize for ripping your chest open. She didn't mean it."

Emily set Storm down beside Antonio. The gold Ranger reached out and petted her head.

"She's forgiven," Antonio smiled. "I know she couldn't help herself."

Emily looked down at Antonio's chest. The stitches were still in and covered with bandages, but from what she could see he was getting better. She knew he had been given the okay to move around the house and thought he would jump at the chance. He had just as much energy as she and Mike combined! And yet all he wanted to do was lay in bed.

Alone.

"Normally, when I'm sick, I want Mike by my side."

"Jayden and I need a little space."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it will be," Antonio nodded and gave the yellow Ranger a reassuring smile. "You know how sometimes you just need time to yourself?"

"Do you want me to go, then?"

Antonio shook his head and sat up in bed. He pointed to his night table, "There's a deck of cards. Do you want to play something?"

Emily got the cards from the drawer and pulled them out of the box, "What should we play?"

"Do you know any good games?"

"Old Maid? I used to play it all the time with Serena when she was sick. She said it helped her feel better."

"I think you helped her feel better," Antonio chuckled, "but what the hell, Old Maid it is. Give me the deck, I'll shuffle it."

"No way," Emily giggled and pulled the cards away from Antonio, "I'll shuffle. You're a cheater!"

Antonio gasped, "That is a strong accusation, Emily!"

"Alright, fine then," Emily passed the deck of cards to Antonio and watched as he flushed out all the queens but one, as well as both jokers, and half the deck, then shuffled them all up. Once he started to deal the cards, Emily kept a very close eye on his hands. "CHEATER!"

"How am I cheating already?"

Emily picked up a card that was folded slightly at the corner. Antonio had put it down in her pile, and just as she suspected, it was the old maid, "These cards were perfect when they came out of the box."

"Were not."

"Still," Emily picked up the three other queens that had been put aside, "None of these are bent in the slightest. Neither are the other cards. You gave me the old maid and folded it so you would never get it in your hand."

Antonio dropped the rest of the cards and put his hands up, "I am _offended_ that you would make such an accusation, Emily. Me? A cheater?"

"A cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater," Emily picked up the deck, grabbed a new queen and reshuffled the cards. Then she handed them out fairly, with the old maid hidden in one of the two piles. She didn't know who had it and was about to pick up her cards to find out when Antonio grabbed her hand.

"I suggest we play a new game."

"What's that?"

"War. Do you know how to play?"

"No," Emily shook her head, "but I can see there's an ace up your sleeve. Something tells me that's a good card to have."

Antonio pushed the ace up a little higher, "Uh, that's how you play. You put away a card for emergencies. I would suggest hiding away a two."

Emily giggled and shook her head. She turned to Storm, "He thinks I'm stupid."

Storm growled at Antonio. Emily smirked and set her cards down on the bed. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"What are you doing?" Antonio asked.

"Protesting."

"Protesting what?"

"I won't play with you, and you'll be lonely and injured, unless you agree to play fair."

"You can't know I'm cheating," Antonio said. "You can't prove I bent the card intentionally, or that I even knew it was bent before you pointed it out, and you don't know how to play war and therefore can't know whether I'm cheating or not.

Antonio crossed his arms and his legs, "I protest your protest."

"I protest you protesting my protest."

-Samurai-

Mike's staring made Jayden very uncomfortable. It was dinner time and Jayden was sitting and eating with the group while Emily was still with Antonio, keeping him company.

From the moment Jayden announced he was eating with the Rangers Mike started to look at him strangely. Jayden started to wipe around his mouth, "It there something on my face?"

"Your boyfriend's injured."

"Antonio and I don't need to be with each other constantly," Jayden sighed, tired of the assumptions the others were making. They were right to be suspicious, but Jayden needed them to leave their suspicions alone.

"Don't you want to, though?" Kevin asked. Jayden rolled his eyes.

"We share a room. We get plenty of time together. And just because I'm in a relationship, that doesn't mean I need to ignore my friends."

"But we would totally understand if you did," Mike smirked, "We have a system and it works."

"I'm not like that. You guys are my friends. You're just as important to me as…" Jayden stopped when he, as well as everyone else, heard a shriek from Antonio's room. They jumped up from the table and ran to check it out. Jayden pulled the door open and everyone had a look around.

Antonio was still in bed, shuffling a deck of cards, but he no longer had his blanket covering him. Instead, the blanket had been tied to the ceiling and looked as though it was being weighed down by something heavy inside.

"Get me down!"

"Emily?" Mike asked and looked up at the blanket. He reached up, poked the bottom and made her scream. Then he started to laugh, "What are you doing up there?"

Storm was barking at the blanket and at Antonio, confused about who to go after, but certain she couldn't go after either of them with her injuries. All she could do was bark and hoped the problem fixed itself.

Antonio continued to shuffle the deck, "She's in time-out."

"I didn't do anything!"

"She's making false assumptions."

"Liar!"

Antonio trying to feign a hurt look, "I'm sore, I've been lonely, and all I wanted was to play a game with my little sister. And suddenly, out of the blue, she accused me of cheating, lying, stealing…"

"You know what you did!"

"Your time out isn't over yet," Antonio told Emily and then turned back to the group, "I'm just teaching her not to jump to conclusions, and that everyone needed to be given the benefit of the doubt when…"

He moved his arms around as he spoke and accidently let a few of the cards he had stashed away slip right out. They flew off the bed and landed on the floor, and in his current state Antonio wasn't fast enough to pick them up. Mia started to collect the cards.

"So, how did you get her up there?" Kevin asked.

"I texted piñata into my Morpher," Antonio smirked. "Now all I need to do is fill her up with candies."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Emily said. "Cookies and ice-cream too, please!"

"Antonio," Mia finished collecting the cards, "You weren't teaching Emily to play poker, were you?"

Antonio tried to look innocent, "No…"

"So it's just a coincidence all the cards up your sleeve could have given you a Royal Flush?" Mia spread out the cards for everyone to see.

James chuckled as he approached the bed and picked up a paper, "Rules to poker: Guideline for Emily. Antonio, these are all wrong."

"Except the Royal Flush," Kevin pointed out.

"See, he is a cheater!"

"Stop squirming, Em," Mike laughed. He was trying to get a good hold of her so that when she did come down, she wouldn't come crashing down.

"I can't! This isn't as comfy as it looks, and I have to pee."

"No more card games for you," Mia swiped the deck from Antonio's hands, "We'll get you your dinner and then you can go straight to bed."

"I am in bed."

"MIIIKE!"

"Sorry, Emily," Mike winced and held his hand out, helping his wife back up to her feet after accidentally causing her to fall from the blanket trap, "How's the head?"

"I have to pee," Emily raced into Antonio and Jayden's bedroom.

Antonio sulked, "That's the last time I play a game with her."

Kevin shook his head and looked to Jayden, "You see why you can't upset the delicate balance of who hangs out with who? You left Antonio alone, and because of that, he and Emily were left unsupervised."

"You're pinning this on me?"

"He's your boyfriend. He's your… problem," Kevin nodded his head.

Jayden rolled his eyes. He turned to Antonio, "Seriously, a piñata?"

"I had fun," Antonio shrugged. He pointed to the pile of DVDs in the corner of the room and sighed. Though his time with Emily had been mostly goofing off, it had been a big help. In spite of everything he had just learned about Jayden and the Samurai team, they were still a team. They were all still friends. Antonio especially was still friends with Jayden. He had come back just for Jayden. He had trained himself to be a Samurai for Jayden. No secret could change that. "Want to watch something with me?"

"You want to watch a DVD?"

"We haven't been spending too much time together," Antonio nodded his head, "We have some making up to do."

Jayden smiled, "Movie night sounds good."

"You pop the popcorn, I'll get the bed set up."

Jayden nodded his head and started for the door. The secret was still a heavy burden, but at least he knew, no matter what, he had Antonio on his side.


End file.
